"Yes!" Ann refrains from saying Finally. :)
This stone building is the same pale tan color as the sunbleached desert that extends to the horizon in every direction. A single, wide entrance, large enough to admit laden mounts, pierces the north wall of the structure and opens into a central courtyard. The northeast corner of the building is wholly collapsed. Drifts of sand and tufts of weeds indicate that the building is long abandoned.
A wide doorway contains only the lower half of a door topped with a wide shelf, beyond which a cool, comfortable passageway leads into the caravanserai. A tattered curtain dangles from the lintel. The room beyond contains only a few bare tables and a narrow, barred door.
On the wall Garrosh finds a rusty scimitar that is surprisingly enough, magical.
No one has any idea what its properties are.
These two decorative fountains are large basins held aloft by carvings of sleepwalkers. They once contained clean water for travelers to refresh themselves, but are now dry and empty.
This courtyard contains several stalls for animals as well as two low stone posts bearing empty circular bins. Across from the wide passageway stand two small doors flanking a long trough.
Rose asks the others, “Shall we move through one of these corridors?”
"Everything is so quiet." Piotr whispers. The emptiness is definitely creepy, so he decides to wish greater protection on his sister. He lets go of Winter's hand to ready his shield and draw his sword.
Then moves in front of Rose with his shield ready. "Whatever evil in this place can hit me first, and then you can Hit it back harder." he whispers to Rose before heading in to explore.
Tattered curtains partially obscure view of this room from the hallway outside it. Peeking into the room, Rose finds the walls of this room are lined with shelves, and a long wooden table stretches through the room’s center. Although it obviously was once a shop, only dust and a few piles of rags remain on display. Perusing one of the nearly empty shelves is a gaunt man with sunken cheeks. He turns to Rose, "Good day, travellers - do you need any supplies? Though sadly," he sighs, "My stocks are very limited."
Garrosh notices that man’s black robes trail off at the edges into smoke, as though he were insubstantial.
Rose is not exactly sure how much her share is of the loot, or if the 750g wand is her share.
“I cannot hurt to inquire, what is for sale, Monsieur?”
"Well, I have a couple rags you could use to cover your face in case of a sandstorm. One copper each."The man answers. "How was your journey here? Did you see any other travellers or supply caravans?"
Ann moved up next to the others "We did not, good sir. How long has it been since one passed through?"
"Too long. My stocks are depleted."The shopkeeper says, crestfallen."Did you know something keeps the sun from setting here, so there's no way to tell the time?"
Rose says, “That is very strange. The sun neither rises nor sets, but stays put?”
Violet flutters over, wondering what could possibly stop the sun.
"The sun hasn't set since I've been here, and I've been here for a long while."Then his demeanor changes as he gives Rose a predatory smile. "You look delicious, my dear" He ghosts towards Rose.
Violet realizes the man is outsider known as an animate dream and it is incorporeal.
Winter curses at the creature, "By Pharasma's grace, begone!" A grey light envelopes the creature and it seems to stumble.
“Thank you for that, Winter.”
Having already cast Greater Magic Fang and Magic Armor, Rose lashes out at the foe!
The man's sudden change from simple conversation to trying to eat Rose takes the warrior by surprise, making his swing clumsy. Ann moves over to protect one of Winter's flanks, leaving the remaining attack position open for Kilarra.
”I do not think I can harm this creature” - Garrosh growls, summoning a blessing to bolster his friends.
Rose manages to claw and sting the creature as Pitor slices into it. It seems to be scared of Rose.
It tries to grab Rose.
Winter blanches, then casts a healing spell on Rose.
Rose coughs up blood, but suddenly feels a surge of life flowing through her.
“She is a keeper, Piotr.”
She practically grunts her joke (if she was joking), then glaring at her foe, she strikes again with talon and scorpion-sting!
Violet cries out, “You’re a keeper too! Be careful!”
She flies over and heals Rose.
Banter while blood flies isn't a Piotr thing so he concentrates on swinging. Since Kilarra seems to be lagging behind, Ann steps forward into the empty space "MAYBE no one comes to your shop because you are a nasty evil little troll of a man." she offers as a helpful suggestion as her magical blades tries to cut into him.
Rose's talons and sting rip into the incorporeal form of the creature, who seems to be less substantial now. "Oh, I'm not a shopkeeper. I was once caught stealing from the shop. I was cursed to remain here forever." It answers.
Piotr can't quite land a strike on it but Ann manages to stab it with one of her daggers.
Rose connects with her talons and stinger, but the creature does not seem to be afraid of her now. Ann manages to stab the creature with one ectoplasmic dagger. Everyone's attacks seem to have problems fully damaging it's incorporeal form.
Without any alternative to damage their foe from range, and without being able to reach him, Garrosh does... Nothing.
Both of you have been awakened by the weird noises coming from your fellow passengers cabin. The door is not locked and you find 2 human women(one, however has claws instead of nails), a human male, a male half orc, a female tiefling lying in a circle sprawled around a strange stairway leading down into darkness...
Tiff wakes up with a start from her desk, ”Augh! The multi-phase compensation field… huh?” She wipes the bits of drool off of her face and the book she collapsed on to. She looked around and decided to take a look. She muttered, ”Suspicious sounds, I’d be remiss to not investigate.”
Tiff blinked at the scene before her, counting on one finger. She peered down the stairs that appeared to descend down through the bottom of the boat but not into the water below it. ”Trans-dimensional aperture, perhaps? I wonder if Skywin knows what’s going on.”
The leshy frowned in despair at Wreben’s insistence that she stay in this cabin. ”Cabin is just another word for bigger crate,” her squeaky voice howled in frustration while she strode back and forth across the gently rolling cabin floor. She heard a noise, moved toward the door, stood on her tiptoes, and struggled to peek through a crack trying to catch a glimpse of life outside the cabin.
Movement caught Blossom’s eye and she got excited seeing another living creature. It’s another one of those persons, one she saw earlier through the crack. It’s wearing a black dress so it must be a woman, she logically concluded. The woman quickly disappeared from her line of sight and the leshy decided to open the door and see where this woman was going.
Blossom followed the woman into the cabin where the noises was coming from. She was surprised to see the limp bodies sprawled across the room and the stairs going downand when the woman she was following ask;
”Trans-dimensional aperture, perhaps? I wonder if Skywin knows what’s going on.”
”Aperture-whatcha?” she said with a shrug and shuffled toward the stairs to get a closer look. Confused, she asked the woman in the black dress, ”Where do these stairs go? Into the water?”
Tiff realizes that the staircase the result of an occult ritual creating a portal to another plane - the Dreamlands. Attempting to wake the dreamers or touching the staircase will result in the person in question being brought over to the Dreamlands.
Not waiting for a response to her first two questions the leshy hurriedly continued, ”Why build stairs to escape this cabin and then stop to take a nap? while she spoke the tiny plant woman stooped over taking a moment to examine the bodies on the floor. The green one could be a type of leshy like me… I think it’s called a half orchid, she reasoned. She jumped in excitement and rushed over to the prone, tusked, plant colored man, ”Wake up!” She grabbed his shoulder and tries to shake him awake.
If Tiff is surprised by the appearance of Blossum it does not show.
Tiff begins to answer Blossum struggling to find the right words, ”It’s like a hole, but through realities. This particular aperture deposits one’s consciousness into the Dreamlands.” Tiff trails off as the plant-woman touches one of the sleeping people and thus flings herself into the Dreamlands. She makes a mental note, Sentient flora are capable of sleeping and dreaming at least through application of certain occult rituals.
Tiff’s curiosity gets the better of her and she descends down the stairs. "Will there be baked confectioneries, I wonder?"
The moment you touch the prone, tusked man, you find yourself falling through cold darkness…then you see a speck of light in front of you. Moving towards it, you find yourself standing in a vast and featureless desert under a blistering sun.
You check your equipment and find that you have everything on you.The heat shimmers in the distance, creating an air of unsettling illusion when looking towards the horizon. The only structure in sight is a partially ruined limestone caravanserai. You see recent tracks in the sand leading towards the limestone caravenserai. Otherwise, the place looks like it has been abandoned for years.Then the air shimmers and you see the woman in a black dress that you saw on the ship next to you.
You see the plant woman collapse into a boneless heap the moment she tries to wake up the half orc. As you step on the stairs, you find yourself falling through cold darkness…then you see a speck of light in front of you. Moving towards it, you find yourself standing in a vast and featureless desert under a blistering sun.
You check your equipment and find that you have everything on you.The heat shimmers in the distance, creating an air of unsettling illusion when looking towards the horizon. The only structure in sight is a partially ruined limestone caravanserai. The place looks like it has been abandoned for years. Next to you is the plant woman you saw on the ship, and you notice recent tracks leading towards the ruined caravanserai.
Disoriented, surprised, confused, and a bit out of sorts Blossom takes stock of her surroundings, Where are all the trees? As she stood in the scorching sun, lamenting her situation, the lady in black materialized, out of thin air, in the blasted wasteland. ”How….. where…. whaattt did you do,” she hissed at the woman, looking for someone to blame.
The annoyed leshy raised her hand to her forehead, creating a brim, blocking a bit of sun, and looks at the woman, ”This is worse than the cabin. I’m wilting!”
Tiff fails to notice Blossum’s distress and marvels at the desert she now finds herself in, ”Fascinating.” She looks at the protesting leshy and rebuffs her, ”Me? I descended the stairs those sleeping people conjured. Like I said it’s a trans-dime… hole in reality to a place called the Dreamlands. It’s only a hole for our consciousnesses though, the stairs I suspect are only our minds interpreting the hole in a way we could understand. I suspect our corporeal forms are still safely comatose on the vessel, you are not wilting, you are only dreaming that you are.”
Without waiting for a response Tiff cavalierly begins to walk towards the caravanserai, following the tracks in the sand.
Blossom understands less then half of what the woman said but doesn’t want to be left alone and hurried after the woman trying to use her shadow for shade.
Kilarra attempts to distract the animate dream away from Rose, drawing it's ire.
Quick sun blossom and Tiff hear the sounds of a fight coming from within the ruined caravanserai as they approach.
The shopkeeper attempts to drain Rose again.
Winter channels a burst of energy to heal the party.
Tiff rushes ahead to see what the commotion was.
She approaches behind Garrosh, "Oooo what's happening here? Surrounding and beating up some hapless Dreamlands individual?"
In a desperate attempt to protect Rose, Violet wills a Silent Image of a curtain to drop in front of the merchant’s window. It can only be seen from the merchant’s side.
Rose strikes again—talons slashing, thorned tendril lashing!
What… the leshy thought as the woman providing the shade ran toward the commotion. Her short legs struggled to keep up and she stoped short of the mass of people recognizing some of them, the sleeping people.
She shouts excitedly, ”Sleeping people…. this is just a dream. You are not wilting!
Violet flits over to the flower girl.
She hovers at the flower girl’s eye level. “The ritual I used to open the path to this dimension was very complicated. We are indeed dreaming, but I would not take this dream lightly, as normal dreams are not a shared experience.
“Losing one’s head here, might leave one’s sleeping body as an intact corpse.” Managing the friendliest expression she can under duress, Violet adds, “Better sage than sorry, Flower Girl.”
Blossom stared, mesmerized, at the hovering fairy and her polychromatic aura, Ohh, pretty. Despite her fascination with the fairy, Blossom managed to understand the warning, her hand moved of its own volition to her throat at the mention of decapitation.
She blushed, flattered, at being called Flower Girl and squeaked in delight.
The new voices behind them make big man's attention shift to a new threat, causing his swing to miss the ghost by a good margin. The young woman to his side with an ethereal green glow and a knife in both hands, seems to have a slightly better time hitting. Her dark eyes do look around her brother quickly, but since Violet is talking and not being eaten she focuses on the threat at hand.
"He is a cantankerous old fool intent on murdering us! That's enough to go on for Now!" she yells.
She approaches behind Garrosh, "Oooo what's happening here? Surrounding and beating up some hapless Dreamlands individual?"
"He attacked us" - the half-orc snarled, turning to the woman and drawing his morningstar, while holding the bow in his other hand - "And who are you? Friend or foe?" - he added with a ferocious gleam in his eyes, looking from Tiff to Blossom.
Violet plays off the friend-or-foe question with, “Surely a friend! My big BFF, Rose, and I are part plant, part woman, as you are.”
She doesn’t go so far to say ‘prove yourself,’ but instead invites help: “Is there a way you can stop that evil man? I fear my illusion cannot fool him.”
Tiff tut-tuts, ”Aha! Now that’s a false dichotomy. Can there be no inbetween with you? You must either have friendly relations or hostile relations with everyone, even before you know their name? Mine’s Theophania Carter, the Great Tiff, short in stature, tall in power, narrow of purpose and wide of vision. Tiff is fine if you’re in a hurry. And to prove to you that I’m neither your friend or foe yet, I shall vanquish this annoying cretin that is presently murdering your friends.”
Violet plays off the friend-or-foe question with, “Surely a friend!…”
Garrosh rolls his eyes - ”Of course…”
Tiff tut-tuts, ”Aha! Now that’s a false dichotomy. Can there be no inbetween with you? You must either have friendly relations or hostile relations with everyone, even before you know their name? Mine’s Theophania Carter, the Great Tiff, short in stature, tall in power, narrow of purpose and wide of vision. Tiff is fine if you’re in a hurry….”
”If you are wide of vision, then you know what I said is but a common interjection in a stressful situation, to garner an immediate response” - he raises an eyebrow - ”Which I have failed to do. Clearly”
”…And to prove to you that I’m neither your friend or foe yet, I shall vanquish this annoying cretin that is presently murdering your friends.”
”By all means, Miss Carter” - he nods at their foe.
“Better to befriend a Tiff than be in a tiff,” Rose says as her legs and stinger flail at the enemy. “Your assistance is welcome and much appreciated, Mademoiselle Carter.”
"Stop discussing her NAME and come help!" Ann implores, as she attempts to stab.
Rose rips into the animate dream, with Ann managing to stab holes in it's insubstantial form, leaving it much wispier.
It attempts to touch Rose again.
Violet soars to Rose’s aid!
Tiff side steps by Garrosh while saying, "We all have our failings my friend!" And then by Rose, "Good form! You'll have to teach me that one!"
She holds out her hand with four fingers splayed and says, "Pew, pew, pew!" Four bolts of light fly out of her fingers towards the animate dream.
1st: Enlarge Person,
2nd: Bull’s Strength, Cat’s Grace, Mirror Image, Glitterdust, Blood Transcription
3rd: Monstrous Physique I, Dispel Magic, Spiked Pit, Haste
4th: Beast Shape II, Summon Monster IV, empty slot